As my dogs have become seniors we find that they need medication more frequently. Sometimes our pugs do well with simply taking medication right out of a syringe. Other times the liquid must taste bad to them because they won’t lick it. Or in terms of pills, they will find it and spit it out. So we’ve gotten a little crafty with both liquid and pill medications.
My tricks for getting dogs to take medication:
- If it’s liquid, put it in a liquid. Plain yogurt, pureed pumpkin or peanut butter can all be blended with a syringe of liquid medication to hide the medication. I suppose peanut butter is technically a solid but it will still blend well with liquids. Yogurt and pumpkin can even help dogs with digestion thanks to the probiotics (yogurt) and fiber (pumpkin).
- For pills, hide them in foods. I used to try putting pills in peanut butter and because dogs lick peanut butter instead of biting it, they would get down to where the pill was and then would be easily able to avoid the pill itself. This made me realize I need the food to be solid enough that the dog would bite instead of lick. So my common go-to options are inside of a stacked/folded piece of sandwich cheese, or rolled up in a piece of sandwich meat. Though some dogs will still hunt down the pill and refuse to eat it this way. If that’s your dog, see #3.
- For solids, use a “two bite” trick. In one hand I have two or three pieces of kibble and the pill. In my opposite hand i’ll have a dog treat. So I give them the food/pill combo and then immediately show them the treat, holding it above their head. This does two things. It keeps their eyes pointed up which keeps their mouth pointing up, so the pill won’t all out. It also tends to encourage them to eat quickly. I wait just a couple seconds so they have chewed a little bit, but I give the treat before they have swallowed. Once they have the treat, there is no chance that my dogs will spit anything out. If your dog is a picky eater then choosing a very high-valued treat for them is the way to go. You want the distraction that comes with a treat they are eager to have.
- Request the form that works best for you. If your dog takes liquid well, try asking your vet for liquids instead of pills whenever you get a script. This may not be possible for every medication but in cases where you just need an antibiotic there should be room for preferences.
- If you get a liquid antibiotic, request it from your vet instead of the pharmacy. If we take a script for liquid antibiotic to the pharmacy, we usually come home with children’s antibiotic which is flavored. My dogs don’t take well to it vs just plain medicine-flavored antibiotics.
Do you have any advice for getting dogs to take medication? Share in the comments!
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Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 8 responses.
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I work at a vet, and another thing we do is to push a syringe full of water in dogs mouths to help force them to swallow the pill since they have to swallow the water 🙂
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Josie
Awe, your pugs are adorable. We had a pug growing up and the hard thing with her was getting her to hold her mouth open because of the jowls. We too would do the trick Becca mentioned with a syringe, it was the only way we could get her to take it.
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Michelle S
My friend has a dog that hates taking pills! I will share these tips with her and maybe it will help. Her Sophie is getting up there in age also and needs meds.
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gloria patterson
So very good suggestions…….. has your vet ever wanted you to take their temp? I tried on my cat and ended up on the floor crying what we do for our fur babiess
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Esperanza Gailliard
Lol I know my father in law has a hard time getting them to take medicine. Definitely sharing this with him.
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shelleyb
Great tips. Amazing how we humans have to be tricky with the display of medicine hidden in treat and ready with a distraction. It usually works out.
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Dorothy Boucher
These are wonderful ideas, I wish I had seen this earlier. I had to help a friend hold down her dog so she could give him his medication. I didn’t like it but the dog was happy after.
@tisonlyme143
These are great tips, thanks you so much for sharing! We plan getting our first puppy as a family soon and it’s been awhile since I’ve owned one so I can definitely use all the help I can get! 🙂